Is Love Really This Hard?
by Lady Illexa
Summary: As Hirani grows up in Sunagakure, she has encounters with the infamous Sabku no Gaara, the Kazekage's son. She learns from these that he is not a monster, but can she convince Gaara of what she has come to believe?


Prologue

"Don't touch me, you jerk!" a child screamed loudly as she shoved at a man's hand that rested on her shoulder. He backed up quickly as tears rolled down the child's face and she ran from the large house, still screaming for him to let her go. The man stood still for a moment, then called after her: "Hirani, Hirani! Come back, please!" The man's broad shoulders sillouetted the sunset as he chased after the small girl. She turned a corner and was gone from sight, into the dunes surrounding her village.

The man stopped as a ninja came from his home to see what the sommotion was about.

"My daughter, she-- she ran into the dunes and I don't know what happened to her."  
"When?"  
"Just a few minutes ago."  
"Sir, I can't go out there to find her..."  
What?! Why not?"  
"Sabaku no Gaara is... having another tantrum. If she finds him..."

The ninja's voice trailed off as he muttered a weak "I'm sorry" and returned to his home and family. At least he had one, the man thought as he set off into the wilderness of a desert to find his daughter.

"Hirani!" he kept calling, stumbling many times as he ventured farther and farther into the sands. A voice, sharp and child-like came over the winds as the man stumbled once more and came to a stop at the top of a dune. "Why are you here? Go away!" came the childish voice of Sabaku no Gaara, the Kazekage's son. The man thought he was being spoken to, but Gaara was not facing him. If he had been, then the man would be able to see that Gaara's face was twisted in hatred and anger as his hand flew up and sand engulfed something. Hirani's small form lifted, half-hidden in the sand, about three feet off the ground as she screamed for her father. After a few sqealed "I'm not going to hurt you"'s and a rather gurgled "Let me go," Hirani's father decided to act. Picking up a small rock and chucking it at the Kazekage's youngest and most dangerous child, the man yelled out, "Let her go, you monster!"

This was the wrong thing to do.

The rock was stopped by the sand child's shield of sodden earth. Gaara turned to him, dropping Hirani to the dusty earth as she whined in pain. Tears streamed down both Hirani's and Gaara's faces. "I," Gaara began, taking a step toward his attacker, "Am." He took a step again. "Not." Another. "A." One more. "Monster!" Gaara's eyes filled with a rage comparable to a wild animal. Sand filled every crack and crease in Hirani's father's clothing as he screamed loudly, struggling to free himself from the sand coffin that now engulfed him. The scream was muffled as sand entered the man's open mouth and smothered him, entering the lungs and suffocating him.

"Daddy," Hirani whispered, her instincts taking over as she tried to crawl away from the danger area. "Not so fast, you assassin girl," Gaara said in a still angry voice, his hands trembling. "I'm not here to hurt you, Sabaku no Gaara, I swear," Hirani whined, her body shaking like a leaf as she tried to scuttle away from the violent boy that had now turned to her. "I don't care anymore. Father has sent so many people to kill me that I don't understand anymore." Gaara's tears seemed to turn from those of anger and hatred to ones of confusion and sadness. 'Ask him why he's so sad,' came a voice deep inside her that seemed to be from nowhere. Hirani, with a shaking voice as uncertain as her body was, asked quietly, "But... why does he want to hurt you so bad?"

"Because I'm... I'm just a monster." With his last word, Gaara turned from her and wiped his face on his arm. "I... I don't know why it's always me, always my fault for everything. Uncle said I killed Mommy before he died trying to kill me, and... he's right!" The wind seemed to pick up as a whirl of sand surrounded them, centering around Gaara. "I'm just a monster...!" he wailed over the wind, tears mixing with the sand that seemed to engulf them.

Hirani felt a twinge of sympathy for him; she had killed her own mother in childbirth, but she had never thought of it that way. To her, it was just a simple fact of nature. Someone dies, someone else is born. She crawled towards her attacker and yelled in the loudest voice that she could muster. "I don't think you're a monster because your mum died," she screamed over the wails of Gaara and the wind. As if her words were magic, the sand stopped in midair and hung there as if frozen. Gaara, who had fallen on his knees, stood and turned quickly to face her and blinked a few times.

"You- you don't?" he inquired, eyes looking almost hopeful. "No, silly," Hirani said, a sudden confidence swelling in her. "I think it's not your fault for your mother's death. My mum died when I was born, and Daddy blames me all the--" Her voice cut off as she looked over at where her father had been. "He's dead..." Tears welled in her eyes as she remembered her helplessness and their last words together.

'He killed Daddy,' she thought, looking Gaara in the eyes. "You... You killed him..." Her voice trailed off, tears flowing freely off her cheeks and into the slowly swilring sand.

She fell unconcious and slumped into the sand as Gaara's small hands reached out and caught her limp form. He carried her back into the Village, his mind racing from her words.

~...~

Note: This is a prologue to the story I am attempting to write. Please tell me if I should contine. Flames are accepted, though they are not appreciated. Please write yay or nay in your reviews.

Many thanks,

Illexa


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